Grappling with the Climate Crisis in IR : Existentially, Psychologically, Interdisciplinarily
Krickel-Choi, Nina C. LU
(2025)
In Czech Journal of International Relations
60(1).
p.7-31
- Abstract
The introduction to this special issue argues that International Relations (IR) needs to give greater consideration to the existential and psychological implications of the accelerating climate crisis. Starting from debates about the disciplinary suitability of IR to meaningfully tackle an issue as all-encompassing as climate change, this introduction gives a short overview of how the problem of climate change has conventionally been conceived, and finds that IR has so far not sufficiently appreciated the psychological implications of the climate crisis. Yet, such a perspective is sorely needed, as climate change is not only an environmental problem but also a problem of existentialist sense-making, and because IR’s actors are... (More)
The introduction to this special issue argues that International Relations (IR) needs to give greater consideration to the existential and psychological implications of the accelerating climate crisis. Starting from debates about the disciplinary suitability of IR to meaningfully tackle an issue as all-encompassing as climate change, this introduction gives a short overview of how the problem of climate change has conventionally been conceived, and finds that IR has so far not sufficiently appreciated the psychological implications of the climate crisis. Yet, such a perspective is sorely needed, as climate change is not only an environmental problem but also a problem of existentialist sense-making, and because IR’s actors are themselves deeply affected by changes to the physical world that they are a part of. Consequently, this introduction provides a sketch of what an existential-psychological inquiry into the implications of climate change could look like and concludes that, regardless of the current state of the discipline, IR has a duty to become a discipline that can meaningfully contribute towards mitigating the climate crisis.
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- author
- Krickel-Choi, Nina C.
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2025-04
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- climate change, existentialism, interdisciplinarity, IR, psychology
- in
- Czech Journal of International Relations
- volume
- 60
- issue
- 1
- pages
- 25 pages
- publisher
- Institute of International Relations Prague
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105002634102
- ISSN
- 2788-2985
- DOI
- 10.32422/cjir.1860
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 93fef48b-433e-4ee3-a7e1-4ed9ce33b546
- date added to LUP
- 2025-08-18 13:41:22
- date last changed
- 2025-08-18 14:16:05
@article{93fef48b-433e-4ee3-a7e1-4ed9ce33b546,
abstract = {{<p>The introduction to this special issue argues that International Relations (IR) needs to give greater consideration to the existential and psychological implications of the accelerating climate crisis. Starting from debates about the disciplinary suitability of IR to meaningfully tackle an issue as all-encompassing as climate change, this introduction gives a short overview of how the problem of climate change has conventionally been conceived, and finds that IR has so far not sufficiently appreciated the psychological implications of the climate crisis. Yet, such a perspective is sorely needed, as climate change is not only an environmental problem but also a problem of existentialist sense-making, and because IR’s actors are themselves deeply affected by changes to the physical world that they are a part of. Consequently, this introduction provides a sketch of what an existential-psychological inquiry into the implications of climate change could look like and concludes that, regardless of the current state of the discipline, IR has a duty to become a discipline that can meaningfully contribute towards mitigating the climate crisis.</p>}},
author = {{Krickel-Choi, Nina C.}},
issn = {{2788-2985}},
keywords = {{climate change; existentialism; interdisciplinarity; IR; psychology}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1}},
pages = {{7--31}},
publisher = {{Institute of International Relations Prague}},
series = {{Czech Journal of International Relations}},
title = {{Grappling with the Climate Crisis in IR : Existentially, Psychologically, Interdisciplinarily}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.32422/cjir.1860}},
doi = {{10.32422/cjir.1860}},
volume = {{60}},
year = {{2025}},
}